Wonderful. As if things could get more brilliant. I’m fairly certain three orgasms shouldn’t lead automatically to love, yet why does my chest feel like somebody is trying to open it with a crowbar?
Finally, my father looks at me. “What happened to you when you were kidnapped?”
“Nothing I didn’t want,” I say honestly, meeting his gaze.
He pales. “You and that monster?”
“He wasn’t a monster. At least not completely.” That waiter’s face flashes through my mind and I push it away.
My father smacks his palm against his forehead. “How am I going to explain this to the Sokolov family?”
I want to punch him, so I fold my hands in my lap. “I don’t know, tell them to join the current century? My sex life is none of anybody’s business, and I’m tired of you acting otherwise.”
He looks as if his tie is choking him. I try to have sympathy, because it can’t be easy for any man to hear his daughter talk about sex, but seriously, enough is enough. My father presses his index fingers against his closed eyelids as if trying to banish a headache. “Will you at least consider a merger with them?”
I sit back, surprised that he’s actually asking. “I will,” I say. There’s no future with Thorn because he tossed me on my ass for a bunch of stones. No woman would forgive that. Plus, I’d like to chart my own path in life, and there’s no question that Thorn dictates to everyone in his world. “What’s the value of the garnets you gave up earlier?”
Father shrugs. “Who cares?”
I do. “I just figure that Thorn has plenty of garnets.” Had he just needed an excuse to get rid of me—maybe force a wedge between my father and me? I think of the sweet nothings in Gaelic he whispered while inside me. Romantic talk he didn’t realize I understood.
“He does, but word on the street is that he’s looking for the mother lode, and I had it. The thing is the size of a bowling ball and incredibly rare.”
I frown. “Okay. I get why he’d want that, but their servers are faster and tighter than ours. He doesn’t need another monumental garnet.”
“That’s what he wanted,” my father says, turning back to the file folders on the table.
Yeah. All right. I feel sympathy for Rosalie that I never had before. I didn’t understand being thrown out like a used napkin. My chin lifts on its own. “How much trouble is Aquarius in right now?”
My father shakes his head. “The last few days have been disastrous. We’re gaining more subscribers now that you’re back, but I’m afraid the hit we took may be too much.” He looks at me, appearing much older than he did when I walked into the room. “You’re needed. Badly.”
“I know,” I say softly.
His gaze drops. “I have to know. Did Beathach . . . hurt you? I’ll kill him for the insult.”
The insult? To me? Or to my father? “No,” I say. “Thorn didn’t hurt me.” Well, yeah he did, but not like my father means.
“Good. I’m relieved about that.” He taps the papers. “The future of the entire company is on you, Alana. You must do the right thing.”
TWENTY-ONE
Thorn
Tension rides me hard as I type rapidly, watching code crawl across my screen. Justice and Kaz also work in silence, both wearing earphones. Not me. I’ll never be caught unaware.
Except when it comes to Alana speaking several languages.
Honey drifts across my tongue. I hate that I can’t see her. Oh, I have ten men on her reporting her every movement, and each one of them will take a bullet for her if necessary. But I can’t see her myself.
It’s just after supper, and she’s having dinner with family members at the Ballroom on Sixth, an expensive restaurant with a high-end bar. So far, I don’t have a line on Cal Sokolov, but my sources are good. If he ends up anywhere near her, I’ll know about it.
For now, I lower my head and craft a tunnel through code, hunting the source of the virus that’s slowly killing me. Closing my eyes, I type faster than I can think, allowing instinct to take over.
Tunneling through the internet with the powerful alexandrite crystals is like mining for gold. Or rather, garnets.
The challenge heightens my awareness. I catch a wisp of a trail, and I’m off and running.
Around me, the servers hum at a frequency I feel to my bones. It’s mine.
My phone buzzes and I pause, pulling up Alana’s social media account.
She’s in the bar and her eyes are slightly drowsy. Has she been drinking? She leans in, and her emotions waft from the device, lingering over my skin. I don’t like that anybody watching can feel the same.
Damn the Aquarius Social emotion-based userface.
I lift my chin and stare, letting honey take over my senses.
“So, thanks for hanging in there with me and for all the love.” She hiccups and holds up a martini glass containing blue liquid. “I’m with my cousins tonight, having a drink and celebrating my freedom.” Her smile is all siren and smart-ass. “So, you all know Thorn, and let me tell you, the stories about him are true. The man can seriously kiss.” She leans in, letting her emotions coat the world. “And yes, we kissed. I mean, wouldn’t you kiss the guy who saved you from raining bullets?” She winks. “Give me more love, and I’ll be back later tonight with more deets. You’re gonna want to hear this.” The screen explodes with pressed stars.
I’m going to fucking beat her ass, and this time, she’s going to remember the lesson. Apparently I went too easy on her before. The one saving grace, and I mean the only one, is that she didn’t reveal her location to millions of strangers.
Returning to my program, I pound the keys until the M slides out of sight. Doesn’t matter. I know all the keys by heart.
Kaz stops typing and tugs his phone off the counter to answer. “What?”
He’s more likable every day.
Then he turns to me just as Justice removes his EarPods. “Sylveria Rendale is here to see you.”
